Angry patient’s A&E rampage

A police officer suffered serious injuries as he tried to restrain a patient who became violent in a hospital A&E department. A court heard Mark Stevens flew into a rage after being made to wait five hours in the casualty department at St James’s Hospital in Leeds.

The heavily-built 54-year-old racially abused security staff and assaulted a police community support officer during the incident on September 10 last year. Carmel Pearson, prosecuting, said police officers were called but Stevens refused to calm down and the situation went “horribly out of control.” The officer had to undergo surgery to have the finger pinned following the incident.

Stevens suffers from paranoid schizophrenia and went to the hospital for help around 10pm. Miss Pearson said Stevens became aggressive with medical staff because of the length of time he was made to wait. He was seen by a consultant but continued to be abusive and security staff were called.